Cheng Fangqin, Linyi, is the vice president, professor and doctoral supervisor of Shanxi University, director of the National Key Laboratory of Environmental Protection Coal Waste Resource Efficient Utilization Technology. Starting from the national environmental protection needs of solid waste resource utilization and pollution control, she carried out research and engineering application of coal-based solid waste resource utilization and pollution control technology, and achieved a series of landmark results. In 2005, he was named " expert enjoying the special allowance of the State Council". In 2007, he was selected as a national candidate for the "New Century Talent Project". He won the fifth "Shanxi Province Young Scientist Award" and was awarded the title of "Young Chemist" , was rated as "National March 8th Red Flag Bearer", "Outstanding Teacher of Shanxi Province", "Sanjin Scholar", and the first batch of "Kunlun Scholars" in Qinghai Province.
Not long ago, reporters from Yuncheng Daily and Yuncheng TV jointly conducted an exclusive interview with Cheng Fangqin.
Reporter: Hello, Principal Cheng, I am honored to have the opportunity to communicate with you. What are your expectations for the overall development of Yuncheng Salt Lake ?
Cheng Fangqin: Last year, the province decided not to develop the mineral resources of the Salt Lake, so the subsequent transformation and development will be very important.
Yuncheng Salt Lake is the oldest salt lake in my country and one of the earliest developed salt lakes in the world. It has foundational significance for the world's salt lake culture and the development of salt series products.
In the post-industrial era, the Salt Lake has characteristics and functions similar to that of an industrial heritage park. The technological reforms and innovations in the manufacturing process of a series of new chemical products can be used for practical training of college students and popular science education in primary and secondary schools through display, and through the creation of a base, More people know about the social civilization and progress brought by salt culture , which is an important direction.
From the perspective of people's livelihood, the nearly 10,000 employees of Salt Lake are intelligent and hard-working. They play an important role in the production, processing, development and utilization of resources, and they also have an inseparable feeling for Salt Lake. If the struggle history of several generations of Salt Lake people is sorted out into stories, become materials for cultural inheritance, and then integrated into the industrial heritage park, this will not only bring cultural and spiritual enjoyment to tourists, but also allow everyone to understand certain scientific knowledge. We can increase training efforts to allow people in Yanhua to find a suitable entry point for themselves in tourism development and production transformation, combine their strength with the next development, and let them change their concepts and skills. . Turn the Salt Lake into an industrial heritage park in the post-industrial era, making it an internship training base for college students and a science popularization base for primary and secondary school students.
Reporter: Your suggestion actually gives us a blueprint for developing cultural tourism. Yuncheng currently has the goal of building a national-level tourist resort, so how should we handle the relationship between this construction goal and environmental protection?
Cheng Fangqin: Yuncheng Salt Lake is very magical. It is different from salt lakes in other places. It turns out that there is Yagu Spring next to our salt lake, which spurts out fresh water, and the Nanshan Mountain next to it is also lush. The salt lakes in other places are like the Gobi Desert, "not a hair grows." Therefore, there is a certain foundation for Yuncheng to build a national-level tourist resort. It is necessary to delineate the area, collect resources in this area, and understand the correlation between it and the environment. Now, the environmental problems caused by industrial production no longer exist, but the next step in the development and utilization of salt lake resources must be cautious. The biggest feature of Yunzhonghe Tourism Resort in Xinzhou City is its hot springs. If salt lake brine is to be introduced to the resort in the future, we must pay attention to environmental protection issues in the process, select appropriate materials, and have a reasonable design.
In addition, salt lakes can also cultivate brine worms, which is an important situation in the development of biotechnology. We have also raised shrimp before. They are thick and large in size. They are a specialty resource and have the value of cultivation and breeding. A series of food culture products can be developed through several pools and served to tourists' tables. In fact, this in itself is also a kind of protection of salt lake resources, because the symbiotic coexistence of this series of organisms and plants is actually a very beautiful protection of the ecological environment. Transforming scientific research results into people's basic necessities of life must be unique. There are not many in China and not many in the world.
Yuncheng now has very convenient transportation, with both an airport and a high-speed rail. There are many inherent advantages in building a national-level tourist resort. It and the ecological environment are interdependent, and it requires a global perspective. Reporter
: Building a national-level tourist resort relies on the unique and rich resources of Yuncheng Salt Lake that you just mentioned. Last year's heavy rains added 75 million cubic meters of water to the salt lake. From a scientific perspective, how should we protect the resources within it?
Cheng Fangqin: Resource utilization requires science and technology to support it. As the Salt Lake enters the post-industrial era, the demand for water has decreased. Try not to mix external water with the Salt Lake water. This requires technological transformation, reasonable proportions, and protective use of resources. That said, the paradigm needs to change.
With so much water entering the salt lake, it must be bad. We need to conduct research before we can give some suggestions. Now we just know that this is bad. Because industrial production has stopped and we no longer mine, there should be another way to replenish water from the salt lake. The cause of the Colorful Salt Lake is that there is algae in it. We now need to strictly control the water supply. How to do it specifically needs to be investigated and studied, and finally a plan can be come up with.
Reporter: You have worked and lived in salinization for many years. We would like to know the development status of salinization at that time or what things impressed you deeply?
Cheng Fangqin: For me, salting has many lingering memories and dreams. It is a very important basic stage in my work and is of great significance to my life and the formation of scientific attitude.
My first impression of the Salt Lake came from the introduction from my teacher in college. It wasn’t until I actually went to the Salt Lake that I realized how big it was, covering more than 100 square kilometers. At that time, transportation was not convenient, so people mainly walked. The brine brewing place is very small, in the middle of the salt lake. One of my seniors was assigned to the Fifth Salt Chemical Plant. After I arrived, he took me to see the brine mixing point. We walked for a long time before we reached the edge of the salt lake. There was a small pump room with two valves inside, which was where the brine was mixed. I thought it was amazing at the time, because when I was in school, I only used a small buret . To achieve production, brine mixing is a key link. Later, computer automation was realized, and there was no need to go there to manually adjust the valve every day. At that time, I felt that technology could indeed reduce the labor burden of many people.
Later I was transferred to the brine comprehensive utilization project team to participate in the high magnesium brine comprehensive utilization project. This project had a great impact on me and I was deeply impressed. At that time, when we were doing experiments, we could not stop work for 24 hours, so we would work shifts every 12 hours. The laboratory is full of young people. When we turn experiments into drawings, and turn the drawings into production lines for actual production, we are all very excited, because after all, this is something we have made ourselves.
When college students worked in salinization in the 1950s and 1960s, the centrifuges they used were very crude. They had to lie there and count the revolutions manually, and then calculate the speed. There were also emergencies during the experiment. Once the centrifuge accidentally flew out. Although no one was hurt, it reminded me that every detail during the experiment must be carefully grasped. Later, whenever I felt particularly excited about something gained, I would definitely tell myself that there might be some small details that needed more attention.
At that time, the German Meso Company could only use magnesium sulfate heptahydrate to make potassium sulfate . They thought it was impossible to use sodium sulfate decahydrate to make potassium sulfate, but we did it. In fact, this involves the issue of water balance.
When I said goodbye to salinization, I compiled a book on the phase diagram of the water-salt system and won the provincial first prize and the national second prize. This is another rich gift that Salt Lake has given me since I left. Later, I won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2003. Everyone said that I became a scientist, but in fact, I just did what I could. And salting is the starting point that I can’t forget or erase. After
came to Shanxi University, I formed a team. From 2005 to now, I have been doing research on Qinghai Salt Lake for 17 consecutive years. During this period, I also did things about Lop Nur Salt Lake. Recently, we are talking about Laos Salt Lake.All of these are serving the needs of the country. When I achieve something, I am always very grateful to Yuncheng Salt Lake. I am particularly touched every time I think of it. I often tell students my experiences and stories about Salt Lake. This is a process of mutual promotion and common growth, and this is how the Salt Lake spirit is passed on.
Reporter: You just mentioned the Salt Lake Spirit, so what do you think the Salt Lake Spirit is?
Cheng Fangqin: I think the spirit of Salt Lake is a kind of unpretentious but always blooming spirit. Reporter
: We know that you have made many achievements in environmental protection research, but are there any relevant results for the protection of salt lakes? How do you think the next step should be to study, protect and scientifically utilize it?
Cheng Fangqin: I came from the field of salinization. After I went to college, I felt that its educational direction was focused on the environment, and at the same time it affected the development of chemical engineering, materials, mineral processing and other disciplines.
My Tsinghua University tutor also went to Yuncheng Salt Lake. Once he gave me a book, which used my results on the production of potassium sulfate through Glauber's salt method as a case study. He said that this case was very meaningful. I was very confused at the time: How could he be interested in such a thing? Later I learned that my tutor had been promoting the construction of the discipline of resource recycling science and engineering. He believed that this discipline was very important, and it involved the utilization of salt lake resources.
When I was in school when I was a child, I remember the textbook said that "China has a vast land and abundant resources, and its resources are inexhaustible." When I actually did this, I found that lack of resources had become a bottleneck restricting development. From this perspective, the resource recycling science and engineering proposed by the instructor is not only a subject matter, but also a national event. The construction of this discipline also plays a very important role in the recycling of salt lake resources.
During the year when I studied with my tutor at Tsinghua University, I participated in the birth of this major, and I was determined to do it, and I believed that I had the ability to do it well. After I came back, I first applied for a doctoral program in resource recycling science and engineering at Shanxi University. This doctoral program is an interdisciplinary and involves the four disciplines of chemistry, biology, environment, and management. After the interdisciplinary doctoral program
was approved, I successively introduced many outstanding talents, and now the team has more than 40 people. Common people often say that an iron camp is made of flowing soldiers. In 2017, I started to study undergraduate studies. The outstanding talents trained previously are now able to assume the important responsibilities of teachers. For this subject to develop well, the quality of teachers must be excellent. Now, we have bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, and have recently started to compile a series of textbooks for ecological and environmental majors. This series of textbooks has been included in the “14th Five-Year Plan” and is dedicated to combining industry, environment and ecological issues, which is particularly meaningful. .
We are currently also cooperating with Dadi Environmental Holdings Co., Ltd. focusing on resource recycling. This company is a leading enterprise in the field of ecological environment in our province. In the next step, Yuncheng Salt Conservation Center can also cooperate with the company to combine ecological restoration, resource utilization, and tourism development to form a technological, economic, and social cycle, which should be very meaningful. If cooperation can be achieved, then Yuncheng will be at the forefront again. Because now everyone relies on industrial parks to develop a circular economy. If technology, economy, and society are combined, it will become a big industry and new institution. Reporter
: We are particularly looking forward to more new results from your team, and we also hope that your research direction can be combined with Yuncheng Salt Lake. What are the next prospects for cooperation between you and Yuncheng in this regard?
Cheng Fangqin: Our Professor Guo Donggang has already cooperated with Yuncheng Salt Conservation Center from the perspective of biological resources. I also look forward to a broader space for cooperation in the next step. The state has a special fund for the utilization of salt lake resources. It is recommended that the Yuncheng City Salt Conservation Center take the lead. We will communicate and report with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Fund Committee to see if we can get support at a higher level.
The National Science Foundation and Shanxi Province also have a joint fund that is currently compiling a history of salt lake chemical industry, including tens of thousands of words devoted to Yuncheng Salt Lake.We can invite relevant experts to Yuncheng Salt Lake for on-the-spot observation, let them understand how Yuncheng Salt Lake has led development from ancient times to the present, and then design a National Fund key project in this regard, which will attract a large number of people in bromine, Artemia and other fields. batch of scientists.
At the same time, the Ministry of Science and Technology also has a strategic plan on the recycling of mineral resources. The recycling of resources in Yuncheng Salt Lake should meet this requirement. This plan has 60 topics, which can organize some enterprises to do similar things and combine national policies with the development of Shanxi. This needs to be made bigger. The bigger it is, the more content it contains.
We must create national-level things with a national-level vision and combine planning with major national needs. We should be unique in the multi-disciplinary intersection involved. We can also collaborate with some units of Jiangnan University, Shanxi University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to innovate and conduct diversified cooperation on the current brine, black mud resources and surrounding ecological, biological and plant resources, and connect with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the state The NSFC needs to conduct some research and key projects to support our scientific and technological development and progress.
Source丨Yuncheng Daily
